New Laundry Room Picture

Here's where we are at. Scott built the countertop tonight but he still needs to apply the laminate top. We need to finish trim, build shelves, install a faucet, and finish painting and installing the doors between the laundry room and mechanical room.

Finished Floor

We finished installing the laundry room floor last night. For a floating, click-together floor, I must admit it looks pretty good. The space feels very large and spacious, but I suppose this is true of any space that hasn’t yet been packed with junk.

We still have several things to finish up including: touch up paint, installing the trim, painting the sink base and hanging and painting doors. We’ll then have to shop for a countertop. This hasn’t been the most exciting project, but it’s always nice to see spaces change from non-useable to useable.

Ceiling and Lights

Antsy Pants

I am ready for progress. I am ready to build walls, install windows, sheet rock and yes, even mud and sand. I am ready for my house to be torn up, for that constant state of disarray. I am ready to cook out of a basement and wash dishes in my bathtub. I am ready.

We received our building permit in late December for our kitchen addition and I was naïve to think that we were going to trudge outside in subzero temperatures and in the pitch black to work every night and weekend. Considering that we have about four feet of snow in our backyard right now, I am not sure if mobility would even be feasible. I know, we could work wearing snowshoes! At any rate, spring is just around the corner and we are gearing up for our project. Our downstairs laundry room is almost complete, and looking very nice I might add. We still need to add the dropped ceiling, can lights, flooring and trim. When it is finished, I think I might actually “hang out” in my laundry room. You might even be getting an invitation that would read something like this:

The Johnson’s are having a party

Location: Laundry Room

Well, probably not, but it will be nice to have such a clean and polished space for some of the most loathsome chores. Who knows, maybe it will change my perspective on doing laundry . . . then again, maybe not.

Carolina Hotel Aqua

While other girls ate chocolate and went out for a fancy supper, I spent Valentine’s Day covering my laundry room walls in the most beautiful shade of Carolina Hotel Aqua – an understated bluish, greenish, grayish hue that makes my heart do somersaults. I know I haven’t posted in a while. Surprisingly, the laundry room is coming along quite well. I’ll post pictures soon . . .

Laundry Room Progress

We made good progress on our laundry room over the weekend. Our good friend Ian was in town from Arizona and he dedicated his Saturday to helping us sheet rock. It was too bad that we weren’t able to work outside, but it was raining. Minnesota weather never ceases to amaze me. Here are some pictures of our progress.

Scott and Ian finished insulating, now ready for sheet rock

The boys finished and proud of their handy work

Framed up and ready for closet doors

Bare walls ready for tape, mud, and PAINT

Brrrrrr

I am beginning to think that a winter remodel wasn’t such a good idea. With temperatures barely topping off in the low one digits, traipsing outside to work hardly sounds appealing. Most recently, we’ve decided that while the frigid temps persist, we are going to focus our energies on finishing our laundry room. That way, when it comes time to move out of the existing kitchen, there will be a clean, nice, non-dungeony space to move into.

Finishing our laundry room will be relatively inexpensive, yet it will add 160 finished square feet to the size of our home. It will require framing up some walls, adding sheet rock, a dropped ceiling, paint, lighting, and some cheapo stick-down floor tiles. We also want to add some cabinets, a deep sink, and a nice long countertop to span the length of our washer and dryer (my future food prep station). Almost all of the materials we will be able to get at the salvage yard. In the future I would like to add a craft station—some base storage cabinets with a tabletop laminate countertop. I’ve seen this sort of setup while touring the Parade of Homes, and thought the concept was really smart. This way, we’ll have a suitable work space for messy kid’s projects, folding laundry, wrapping gifts, ect.

Our current basement: